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CASE HISTORY

Coder Keeps Up with Intermittent Packaging and Labeling Line

Medical implant manufacturer turns to a thermal coder for rapid and accurate label application.

Steve Gilbey, site manager for Cambridge, U.K.–based Wesley Coe, had a dilemma. The medical implant manufacturer needed to print labels containing medical information about its products and place them onto the implant containers before sealing them in their blister packs. But Gilbey couldn't afford to slow down his packaging line with manual labeling.

Allen Coding's TT53IM can print up to 300 characters a minute. Text, dates, codes, bar codes, graphics, and logos all can be applied with one printhead.

Gilbey asked Dave Sidwell of Packaging Machinery Services (St. Neots, U.K.) for help with engineering such an addition to the packaging line. "Our engineering subcontractors came up with the equipment design that would integrate perforation of the blister packs and coding into one machine," explains Gilbey.

With the equipment configuration in mind, Gilbey and Sidwell had to find the right labeling system. This search presented its own challenges. "Because of the range of substrates involved and the length of medical information required, we could not print directly onto the product or packaging," says Sidwell. "So we decided to employ reel-to-reel labeling. After printing, the information labels would be applied to the medical implant product containers before being placed into blister packs."

To keep the label printing and applying in sync with blister perforation, Gilbey needed a labeling system that could handle such intermittent motion. Sidwell suggested Allen Coding U.S.A. (Minneapolis) and its TT53IM intermittent-motion thermal coder. "With its versatility and ruggedness, the Allen thermal coder was our natural choice," says Gilbey.

The TT53IM can rapidly and accurately apply a wide range of information, such as text, dates, codes, bar codes, graphics, prices, and logos. In Wesley Coe's case, the TT53IM prints codes and dates onto preprinted labels. In the future, it will print all of the lengthy medical information required by the firm.

Users can choose from one of three true-type fonts for extra flexibility and clarity. Labeling information can be entered using a compact, handheld terminal. The system's Windows-based software, AllenCraft, creates all labeling formats. A range of memory cards is available for information storage and retrieval.

Final labeling and perforation now occurs in one step at the end of the line, prior to final packaging and delivery. Without the integration of labeling and perforation and the use of the Allen coder, Gilbey says that labeling would have been "labor- intensive, taking up more than four times as long."